The No Fluff Plan - Intermediate - 12 Weeks Training Plan

This program can be used to spice up your training at any point in the season; winter, spring, summer or fall.

The basic premise of this program is to help you improve your VO2 max and threshold. If you are using this plan during the winter, you can start your specific training in the spring with a nice improvement in your speed.

This program should be used for ONLY the following athletes:An Athlete who has:

Three solid years of training – with at least 400 hours per season.

NO injuries over the last training season.

Come off a season where you have already raced an Olympic Distance triathlon and are looking to give your training a boost.

Consistently run 20 miles or more per week, for at least 3 seasons.

This plan should NOT be used for the following athletes:

An athlete who has:

Less than 400 hours of training per annum.

Has NOT completed at least an Olympic Distance event.

Has been injured during the last training season.

Has NOT done high intensity training before.

Requirements: Swim: You should be able to swim at least 3 times per week for at least 1500 yards or more. Bike: You should be able to bike at least 1 hour, 3 times per week. Run: You should be able to handle 20 miles a week of running, without injuries.

Theory behind the plan

This plan is based on a non-traditional training routine – doing the power and threshold workouts first while you can still carry the fitness forward from the season before. In my training philosophy for experienced athletes, we do speed training 45 weeks (or more) a year. You don’t want to lose speed to any extent, and doing VO2 work early in the training cycle will increase your anaerobic capacity. It takes many weeks of speed work to see improvement, usually 12 weeks or more. Speed work must be done early in the annual cycle and before you add any other volume or longer-intensity workouts. The basic principle is that we are trying to get as fast as possible before we increase the volume.

As an athlete gets close to a longer race (HIM or IM) intensity is reduced and volume increased. If the athletes don’t increase their speed to a very high level, they won’t get faster because they’ll lose some speed during the high volume phase. The common question is ‘what about the endurance, if you focus on speed early in the preparation cycle, will endurance suffer?’ For an experienced athlete the answer is that you don’t need more than 6 weeks to get your endurance back to a higher level.

If I had my choice of coaching an athlete who has power and strength vs. an athlete who is ‘in-shape’ with a big aerobic base, I would rather coach the athlete with power and strength. Here is my reasoning: It is significantly easier to get a powerful athlete 'in shape', than it is to make an 'in shape' athlete explosive. The first will take weeks the second may take years.

How many times per year to use this program?Twice a year with 12 weeks in between.

ScheduleThis plan has 3 workouts per week, per sport and 2 weight training sessions. The weekly hours are from 8-10.5 hours. This program can be used leading into any of the other D3 programs such as the 12 Week Olympic Distance, Half or Full Iron Distance races.

Heart-rate training and testingThis plan uses heart-rate training zones for intensity specific training, see 'Related Links' at bottom for testing protocol and how to determine and setup your heart-rate zones.

There is no testing in this program, just make sure you start it with your training zones up to date. If you plan on using a HRM then use the calculator on BT to calculate your current Heart Rate Zones for your run and bike and for your swim paces.

Other important itemsThe unwritten part of this plan is recovery, nutrition and mental status. Each one of these elements is a key to your success. Adequate sleep and proper nutrition will increase your ability to recover on a daily basis. Recovery between tough sessions is critical to making each session count. This will help you stay motivated and mentally focused as the training gets tougher. Having a positive attitude when getting ready for a tough session will increase their productivity.

Weight Training and Core StrengthThis program does not have a specific weight training or core strength program included. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to use one to improve joint strength for injury prevention.

The best days to include weight training for this specific program are Wednesdays and Fridays where there is only one workout - the swim. Please see this article on a weight training program to use. You will be using the Anatomical Adaptation/AA Strength phase in the link.

See 'Related Articles' below on more plan details and links to terms, heart-rate testing protocol, core strength and weight training.

Author

mikericci

Our coaching philosophy is to help you get the most out of your available training time. We don’t believe in junk mileage or useless workouts. We combine the most current research and triathlon training techniques with proven race strategies to help our athletes reach their goals.

Author

mikericci

Our coaching philosophy is to help you get the most out of your available training time. We don’t believe in junk mileage or useless workouts. We combine the most current research and triathlon training techniques with proven race strategies to help our athletes reach their goals.

Day 1

Day 2

BT: Warm-up well (15minutes) and then do 10 x 30 seconds at 90% effort (9 on 1-10 RPE scale) with 30-second spin recoveries. Stop if speed drops by 1 mph (1.5 kph). Rolling starts, standing, big gear. Get to top end quickly. Cool down for 10 minutes easily and stretch.

RUN

Time: 40m

TREADMILL WORKOUT:

WU: 8' easy warm up - then 4x20" fast - at a sustainable speed with 40" recovery in between sets, but still this should be very quick.

MS: 9x1' very fast - if your 5k pace is 8:00 for example, that would be 7.6 mph on the treadmill. This set would see you running FASTER than that. Get the treadmill up to the desired speed, run fast for the minute, then hop off onto the sides and slow it back down before you get back on. Run easy for 1 minute before you do your next rep. Do these in sets of 3, and try to get faster with each set of 3.

Day 3

MS: 12x50 on 20" rest (each one gets faster) Then swim a 600, swimming the 2nd 300 faster then the first 300.

Next is 6x50 kick on 15" rest.

Then swim 2x300 on 30" rest. #1 is at T-pace, #2 is as fast as you can.

CD: 200

Comments and Definitions

Kick (Regular) - Kickboard Kick or Kick on Back with hands over head, fingers locked.

'Pull' Drill - Focus will be on learning to 'catch' the water with your forearm and pull yourself through the water. If you feel your lats (the muscles under your arm pits that go down the side of your back) engage, then you are starting to get it. If your shoulders are tired, then you are still using too much shoulder and not enough lats.

Day 4

MS: 5x10-20" at 90% effort with 1' recovery. Increase the effort on each 10-20" effort.

Then the fun begins: Pedal as hard as you can for 20", then recover for 10" - no more than 10" - do as many reps as you can - MAX of 8 reps! Note your wattage for each rep. Do a nice easy 10' cool down. Total time of 25-35'.

Good luck!

RUN

Time: 35m

Breakthrough: Warm-up well for 15 minutes and then run 10 x 30 seconds at a pace about 20 seconds per mile faster than your 5k race pace per mile. Recover by jogging easily for 30 seconds after each. You should cover half of the fast rep distance during your jog (for example, run 150 in 30 seconds, jog 75 in 30 seconds). Stop and cool down when you can no longer maintain the targeted pace. Cooldown for 10 minutes. This is best on a track or other measured course so that pace may be monitored.

Day 6

MS: Then shift into a the big chain ring and into a gear that allows you to spin at about 65-70 RPMs. You will spin 4x10 minutes in this gear - HR should be mid-high Z2 - recovery will be 5' easy between sets - you will probably see HR drift into Z3 - keep the cadence up - this is where you build strength.

CD: 10' cool down.

SWIM

Time: 1h 20m

Distance: 3200.00 yards

WU: 300 swim/100 drill for warm up

MS: 300 swim w/ pull buoy – then 100 drill – repeat as many times as you can in 50 minutes. Swim effort on the 300s is steady – not hard, not easy. NO STOPPING.

Day 8

Day 9

BT: Warm-up for 15' well and then do 15 x 30 seconds at 90% effort (9 on 1-10 RPE scale) with 30-second spin recoveries. Stop if speed drops by 1 mph (1.5 kph). Rolling starts, standing, big gear. Get to top end quickly. Cool down 5' easily and stretch.

RUN

Time: 46m

TREADMILL WORKOUT:

WU: 8' easy warm up - then 4x20" fast - at a sustainable speed, but still this should be very quick - 40" recovery between sets.

MS: 12x1' very fast - if your 5k pace is 8:00 for example, that would be 7.6 mph on the treadmill. This set would see you running FASTER than that. Get the treadmill up to the desired speed, run fast for the minute, then hop off onto the sides and slow it back down before you get back on. Run easy for 1 minute before you do your next rep. Do these in sets of 3, and try to get faster with each set of 3.

Day 11

MS: Then 5x10-20" at 90% effort with 1' recovery. Increase the effort on each 10-20" effort.

Then the fun begins: Pedal as hard as you can for 20", then recover for 10" - no more than 10" - do as many reps as you can - MAX of 8 reps! Note your wattage for each rep. Do a nice easy 10' cool down. Total time of 25-35'.

Good luck!

RUN

Time: 35m

Breakthrough: Warm-up well for 15' and then run 10 x 30 seconds at a pace about 20 seconds per mile faster than your 5k race pace per mile. Recover by jogging easily for 30 seconds after each. You should cover half of the fast rep distance during your jog (for example, run 150 in 30 seconds, jog 75 in 30 seconds). Stop and cool down for 10' when you can no longer maintain the targeted pace.

This is best on a track or other measured course so that pace may be monitored.

Day 13

MS: Then ride 5x 1' at 100 RPMS, alternating with 1' easy. Then ride 5’ hard – not 100% effort but about 95%, and then take an easy 5’ easy spinning before starting the test:

TEST: Finally, you'll test for your FTP (Functional Threshold Power). Pick a route that you can ride for 30 minutes as hard as you can. A flat course or out-back course is best. After 30' effort, ride easy for at least 15'. Record average power, speed & heart rate.

*You will see this workout several other times in this plan. The idea behind the frequent testing is to treat the test like a workout – you may be tired, you may not. It's good to see how training affects your testing – and as they say, training is testing and testing is training. It's ok to have tests in the program as the athletes progress through a cycle.

**Swims can be before the FTP test – but everything else should be after.

SWIM

Time: 1h 00m

Distance: 2500.00 yards

WU: 300 swim/100 drill

MS: 5x (300 swim at slower than T-pace, 100 drill, so 400 total)

CD: 100 ez

Day 14

After 15 minute warm up, stretch, then run 5x100m strides, with a walk back to the start. Then you are going to run for 30 minutes as hard as you can for the entire 30 minutes. After starting the run, hit your 'Lap' button so you record the average HR over the last 20 minutes. This can be run on track the or measured course (flat). Record the time and get a 10 minute cool down.

Comments and Definitions

Strides/Pickups - Short repeats at a 5K pace with recovery in-between. Each 'repeat/stride' should be about 20-30 seconds long and allow for a full recovery in between. Make sure you are properly warmed up-at least 10 minutes before the first. You are looking to get in about 45 left OR right foot strikes per 30". Multiply by 'two' for your RPM. So 45 left foot strikes per 30 seconds will equal 90 RPM, a running cadence that is the most efficient. You will typically be doing 4-10 repeats of 20-30" strides with a full recovery between sets (depending on the particular workout) by walking back to the starting point.